Sawdust flew around Ivy as she and Eiden cut through the roof. Ivy silently thanked her soundproof protective helmet for blocking out the dust and the roar of her chainsaw, and Eiden for insisting that they wear them. Finally, the last tortured planks gave way; Ivy lifted them aside, allowing the smaller debris to tumble into the room. She lifted the visor of her helmet to better see the three shocked faces staring up at her.

Eiden scrambled back up his rope into the sleigh to prepare for their getaway. Below them, Mrs Claus appeared to be shouting something; Ivy removed her helmet so that she could hear it.

"What are you doing?"

The other woman - Ava's mother? - was also shouting. "You cut through my roof! I hope you have insurance, because you're paying!"

"Rescue mission, ma'am!" yelled Ivy. Her voice was high-pitched with fear and a touch uncertain. Eiden lowered the rope, with the stubborn commitment of those who only saw how terrible their plan was once they were halfway through it.

Ava was sitting bolt upright in bed; her shirt was muddy, there were leaves tangled in her hair, and her expression was furious. "You - you - get out! Get out of my room!"

"Come on, ma'am!" Ivy called. The rope was now dangling in the centre of the room; Mrs Claus hurried towards it. "Sorry about all this! We'll pay for the repairs, of course -"  Her foot caught the leg of a chair, sending it - and the jacket draped over it - tumbling to the floor. "Sorry!" she said again, clinging to the rope's convenient hand- and footholds under the assumption that the sooner they got out of there, the better. The sleigh lifted Mrs Claus and Ivy out of the room.

"Look!" Their feet had barely left the floor when Ivy gasped and pointed - not at the jacket, but at the box of matches that had fallen out of its pocket.

Mrs Claus turned to look. Her eyes widened. "Stop! Stop the sleigh!"

Eiden, with his soundproof helmet, didn't hear. The rope continued to retract.

"It's you," The cold fury in Mrs Claus's voice chilled Ivy's stomach. Ava shrank back under the blankets. "Robyn. You think you can just do this and get away with it? I'll-" 

They emerged through the hole in the roof into the crisp nighttime breeze. The rain had stopped. The rope pulled Mrs Claus up into the sleigh, like a reverse ejector seat. Ivy wasn't so lucky, since her rope was a makeshift addition. She had to climb.

Ava and her mother were left alone in a wrecked bedroom with a grey hoodie and a box of matches on the floor.

"Who was that? Do you know those people?" Ava's mom looked from the debris on the floor to the ragged hole in the roof and cursed quietly. "Where's my phone? I'm going to call the police-" She hurried back to her bedroom to look for it.

Ava placed the phone in question - which, of course, she still had - on her bedside table, where her mom would find it. Then she grabbed the matches and her jacket, slung her backpack over her shoulder and scrambled out of the window.

It was barely a drop from her ground-floor window to the cold, wet grass. Ava did what she did best; she ran.

She pushed aside the dripping tree branches to slip through the gap between their fence and the neighbours' wall. At first she ran with no destination except away. Her fear mounted. 

Her heart slammed in her chest at the thought of getting lost; her mother's fear and anger; the simple terror of having nowhere safe to go. Home wasn't safe, not anymore. Mrs Claus would cut it to pieces and find Ava wherever she hid. 

Ava remembered the hatred in her voice, sharper than the chainsaws cutting through her bedroom roof, and ran faster.

The grass changed to concrete pavement beneath her feet. Sirens wailed in the distance. Looking around, she realised she was nearing 13 Shell Avenue. She skidded to a stop and glanced around frantically, then darted down a street going off to the side.

She nearly ran into an elf.

Her hands flew to her mouth to cut off her scream. She scrambled backwards. "No! Go away! I'm not Robyn, I'm not!"

The elf looked startled. His eyes widened behind his glasses. "Robyn? You know something about-"

"No! I don't, I'm not her, I've never - leave me alone!"

The elf shrugged, spreading his hands. He was shorter than Ava, with brown hair and freckles below a green pointy hat. "Okay, I get it! You're not Robyn. Do you know anything about her though?"

"No! Only - only that everyone thinks I'm her! And I'm not, I promise!" Ava stifled a sob and wiped her tears roughly away. "And everyone says - and - I know she told everyone about magic but - I didn't, I didn't mean to, it just caught fire - it just -" 

"Okay, okay, shh, it's fine! I won't hurt you. What caught fire?"

"The house. Not my house, I mean -" She pointed in the direction of 13 Shell Avenue.

He took off his glasses to wipe them. "Number 13? You saw it explode? That's where Santa got murdered."

"I didn't - I -," Ava shook her head. "There wasn't anyone in it when I was there!"

"When were you there?"

"I was just experimenting with something and the whole floor had been covered with something, it worked like a fuse - I didn't mean to blow it up! I'm sorry!"

"Wait. You set it on fire? Not Robyn?"

"It was all planned. It was set to blow up. But I didn't know that someone died - I mean, I thought - I think no-one was in there -"

"So I guess Robyn wasn't actually there?"

She shook her head in response.

"And Santa might not have been either? I have to tell Mrs Claus about this." He pulled what looked like an ordinary mobile phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

Nothing happened. He sighed. "Maybe they're flying. Oh, wait - hello? Hey, Ivy. Look, I'm talking to this girl and she says no-one was in the building when it blew up. I need to tell Mrs Claus -" He paused, listening. "Of course she'll listen! I'm telling her that Santa's alive! Look, please can I talk to her?"

There was another pause. "Hey, so, I've just met the girl who set off the explosion and - no, no, she's not Robyn! She said the whole thing was rigged, set up when she arrived, and - no, wait - there was no-one in the house when it exploded. Santa's probably still alive! No, she said she's not Robyn - okay, fair point, but - Yeah. Yeah, a grey hoodie, but -" He rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, sure. How about, like, checking the crime scene again or..." He flinched and held the phone away from his ear. "Sorry! Yes, okay, I will! No need to shout! Bye!" He ended the call hurriedly and breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at Ava apologetically. "I think I'm supposed to capture you."

"What?" Ava stepped backwards. "Why? Does she still think I'm Robyn?"

"I'm afraid so. She's convinced. I have to admit, you are kind of a suspect. The message I got was that she's planning to torture you until you tell her where Santa is. And if he's dead, she'll want revenge."

Ava edged to the side, preparing to slip past the elf and run.

He seemed to guess her intentions. "Wait! I'm not going to capture you. I'm Noel, by the way."

"I'm Ava." She watched him suspiciously. "What are you going to do, then?"

"Well. If Santa's alive, we need to rescue him. He's the only one who can control the magic - we need him to stop the chaos at the North Pole. Mrs. Claus won't be much help, since she's after you on a complete wild-goose chase."

Ava smiled despite herself. "Wild-robin chase."

Noel laughed. "Yeah. So, I was thinking, maybe we could go to 13 Shell Avenue and look for any clues that might lead us to Santa? Once we've found him, Mrs Claus won't have any reason to hunt you down. You're not actually Robyn, I suppose?"

"No! I said I'm not!" She pointed behind her, back down the street. "Number 13's that way."

"So I guess you're in?"

"Ja, I guess... It seems like the best plan. Let's go rescue Santa!" 

She turned and ran up the pavement, her bare feet splashing in the remaining puddles. Noel followed.

A/N: Sorry! I know it's not the best chapter, but I wanted to update. Our main characters (or some of them) have finally teamed up! Yay! 😁

I changed some of the details in the earlier chapters about the 'evidence' that convinced Mrs Claus that Ava was actually Robyn. Basically, Ava's jacket was on the chair and Mrs Claus didn't notice it until she knocked it over.